WASHINGTON — Ever wonder why the rising cost of attending college far outstrips inflation, even after tax credits, scholarships and other forms of aid?
Lawmakers are wondering, too.
“Cost hikes have been two to three times the rate of inflation,” Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, complained at a hearing Thursday. “While we have continued to increase student financial assistance significantly every year, tuition spikes have outpaced our best efforts to stem this trend.”
Don’t blame us, university officials told the committee. They said it was logical for college costs to rise faster than the cost of living, because higher education’s expenses were different and were climbing more steeply.
“The rate of inflation is based on a mix of costs that are very different than our costs,” said Richard Freeland, president of Northeastern University in Boston. He and other educators blamed costly technology, the fight for high-quality professors and the need to modernize facilities for driving up the cost of higher education.
“Colleges and universities compete in a national and increasingly international market for the best and brightest professors,” said William Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland.
The competition for top faculty is especially fierce in areas such as science, engineering and information technology, in which private-sector salaries, according to Freeland, can be a third higher than universities pay.
To keep pace, he continued, Northeastern’s starting salaries in the last five years rose 30 percent in electrical engineering, 50 percent in computer science and 49 percent in finance.
On average, Northeastern’s salaries increased 32.5 percent in the last five years; non-wage compensation such as health care, nearly 20 percent. Overall, the university’s cost to educate a student increased 22 percent.
Northeastern’s tuition rose 30 percent to $18,032 in the same period, but four out of five students receive financial aid. Net result: The average student’s out-of-pocket cost for a year at Northeastern rose 20 percent.
Advancing technology is driving capital expenses at many universities, Freeland and other educators said. Computer costs have dropped, but computers need to be replaced every three years to keep up. Many universities also upgraded their dorms, offices and laboratories to accommodate high-speed Internet access.
Costs are also up for health-insurance premiums, support personnel and legal fees related to collective bargaining and contract negotiations, officials said.
© 2002, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.